PORT JERVIS, N.Y.—For a man whose living depended on the use of his hands, having the tips of his fingers restored to him through hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) might seem like a miracle.
Rich Lally, manager of the hyperbaric unit at Good Samaritan medical center in Suffern can verify that it was. “The plastic surgeon had written him off, but a family member in the medical community who knew about us told him. He referred himself and we ended up saving the tips of his fingers, sensation and all, and he’s still working today.”
This is only one of the success stories at Good Samaritan Hospital, one of three medical centers in the Bon Secours Charity Health System. Dr. Byoung Yang, director of the Wound and Hyperbaric Institute for the health system, regularly travels to Bon Secours hospital in Port Jervis to treat patients with wounds. “We’ve had great success in many different areas.”
The unit primarily accepts patients needing care for diabetic wounds in the legs or feet, non-healing surgical wounds, arterial ulcers, skin grafts that “don’t take,” and bone wounds caused by radiation. “The majority of what we see here on an out-patient basis are chronic diabetic non-healing wounds and radiation-induced injuries,” Lally says.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital website describes the process. “Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves exposing the body to 100 percent oxygen at a pressure that is greater than what you normally experience. Wounds need oxygen to heal properly, and exposing a wound to 100 percent oxygen can, in many cases, speed the healing process.
